Another theory which is more disturbing is that a passenger / hijacker gained access to the Avionic Bay / E&E bay where they would be able to disable all communications. The E&E is accessible from the passenger cabin in the forward galley, under the carpet but requires a special screw driver to access it. Once inside the hijacker would have access to all the avionics. Here is a panoramic view of the E&E. http://hawkeyemedia.com/panos/777_Avionics.asp

This still would not completely explain what appears to be the programmed flight path which would indicate the pilot / copilot was coerced or involved in the hijacking. Also seems the Malaysian government knew this flight was off course and did not request assistance from other countries to track it until it was totally off the radar.

Lots of motive theories going on that range from corporate espionage, terrorism, insurance payout to cargo theft. There are very little real facts being released at this time which is leading to more and more speculation. Seems the authorities believe transponders were "deliberately disabled" before last communication where person in plane said "goodnight" and turned off all communications at that point.

Do we know what is insurance policy in Malesia (or where ever his insurance is from)? Suicide does not necessarily rule out payout, not all is Hollywood.

I wonder how it's more complicated by the fact that there's well over 100 Chinese citizens aboard according to the manifest and it's a Malaysian company I presume.

According to this (in Chinese, sorry), 7 passengers bought flight insurance, others are looking into it. Minimum compensation is 400K to 2M RMB, or around 65-325K USD, in addition others that are smaller amounts.

I admit to being as mystified as anyone about this whole thing. However, as a former pilot, I find myself rolling-over various scenarios that might touch on an area not previously surfaced. One that struck me has to do with the concept that the captain, or second officer, may have flown the plane above its designed service ceiling of 43,100' to 45,000' in an effort to alert air traffic control that there was a hijacking I progress, without alerting any intruders in the cockpit that they were doing so, and after turning-off the transponder. Just a thought.

My friend works in Kuala Lumpur and says this is all anyone talks about there. Memorials everywhere you look. He says this theory has been making the rounds there quite a bit in the past several hours:

The basic gist of it is this: MH370 followed another 777 but shadowed it after it disappeared from military radar. With it's communication links like ACARS and the transponder off, the other 777 didn't know it was being followed. To ATC, it appeared as if it was just one plane, but it was two.

That other flight's flight path was over Turkmenistan before finally reaching its final destination of Barcelona.

Anyway, check out the article. Sorry in advance when this turns out to be yet another red herring, but I figure the rest of you guys are like me and will read mostly anything decent on this topic right now.

There has to be something about this flight they don't want the public to know. Despite what countries might say, we know there are satellites watching everything so I find it hard to believe that between radar and satellite this plane just disappeared.

Could different countries know where the plane is but aren't forthcoming with the information that it will verify the level of satellite recognizance they actually have over other countries? We had the technology to identify the bombers in Boston out of millions of people but we can't find a plane? Feels like a cover up.

While it's fun to conspirate, the truth is probably pretty straightforward, some cover up is possible, definitely a lack of communication, I'm thinking of that line from the Paul Newman chain gang movie

I figured if China wanted a 777 they would just buy one (or a fleet of them).

On the other hand some other countries like Iran, and plenty of independent groups...

Fun reading all of the theories. Some are on the borderline of ridiculous and one of those is just about as likely at this point as the ones that "make sense".

Certain products are restricted from sale overseas (not sure a 777 is or isn't).

At this point it's ridiculous we lost a plane the size of a 777 and no one seems to want to step up and tell them where it is. I'd think if it was a terrorist action, the group would have taken credit for it by now.

Certain products are restricted from sale overseas (not sure a 777 is or isn't).

At this point it's ridiculous we lost a plane the size of a 777 and no one seems to want to step up and tell them where it is. I'd think if it was a terrorist action, the group would have taken credit for it by now.

Not if they intended to make a weapon out of it.

It's too bad we don't seem to know if it went northwest or southwest in "the arc". That would answer a lot of questions and eliminate a lot of theories.

What does one do with a 777? I haven't seen any articles on how it can be co-opted for money, militarized, or something else.

The plane is 300million USD, so that's one of the things I was thinking about earlier. However, it uses very specialized parts and if they break down it would be pretty hard to repair without some scrutiny. Chop shop parts? So, they might be able to sell it for 100million USD?

The other thing is many of the people are from Bejing. I'm pretty sure the first class passengers could easily pay a ransom of 100Million USD, possibly more. Not sure how that would work. The passengers would be likely be able to pay the ransom and could be out within a couple weeks?

This event is probably likely to increase the number of private jets sold to China.

My friend works in Kuala Lumpur and says this is all anyone talks about there. Memorials everywhere you look. He says this theory has been making the rounds there quite a bit in the past several hours:

The basic gist of it is this: MH370 followed another 777 but shadowed it after it disappeared from military radar. With it's communication links like ACARS and the transponder off, the other 777 didn't know it was being followed. To ATC, it appeared as if it was just one plane, but it was two.

That other flight's flight path was over Turkmenistan before finally reaching its final destination of Barcelona.

Anyway, check out the article. Sorry in advance when this turns out to be yet another red herring, but I figure the rest of you guys are like me and will read mostly anything decent on this topic right now.

Re: this theory. Honestly, this might explain the erratic use of waypoints in the Strait of Malacca. He was zig-zagging around waiting for another 777 to come along to use that last waypoint, at which time, when one came along, he chased after it and shadowed it.